EU

Since industrial giants from China and the US are becoming dominant players in certain sectors of global and EU markets, 19 EU governments proposed revising the EU’s antitrust rules with the aim to support and facilitate the emergence of so-called “European champions” to make the EU competitive vis-à-vis major world economies.

The fifth round of negotiations between the EU and Indonesia on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement was held in Brussels in July 2018. Despite being at early stages, the negotiations prompted heated debate and strong opposition from international NGOs, as the Commission has poorly addressed major issues related to environmental and labour standards, as well as sustainable investment and development.

On the 4th of October 2017, the EU released its proposals for the change of the value added tax (VAT) rules, which included key reforms for cross-border trade between businesses in Member States. The initiative promised to decrease the EU VAT gap, in other words, the difference between expected VAT revenues and actual member state collections. While broad questions remain about the new system, the EU is convinced that the VAT fraud is to be reduced by 80% by 2022 thanks to the proposed reform.

With Brexit approaching, the Capital Markets Union (CMU) initiative acquires greater importance for the EU financial system. Faced with the looming threat of losing its pivotal financial centre and the risks it will entail, the European Commission counts on the CMU to reinforce the EU financial market. At the same time, bilateral financial relationships are too close and intertwined to imagine that a hard Brexit will provoke no harm and negotiators, being aware of the risks, make their moves carefully.